Scientists in Texas searching for the cure for cancer may have stumbled upon another slightly-less-important cure: alopecia.

For those keeping score at home, alopecia means baldness.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center were studying a disorder known as Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NT1) when they discovered an explanation for balding and hair greying, according to a press release from the Center. NT1 is a rare genetic disease that causes tumours to grow on nerves.

Although this project was started in an effort to understand how certain kinds of tumours form, we ended up learning why hair turns grey and discovering the identity of the cell that directly gives rise to hair,” lead researcher Dr. Lu Le, associate professor of dermatology with the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern, said.